In U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,362 is disclosed an assembly of a plurality of several connectors in a lower row of a frame member, and an additional connector in an upper row, with the mating faces of the connectors along a common face of the frame. Each of the connectors include pluralities of contacts secured in insulative housings. Contacts of all the connectors extend to and beyond a bottom face of the frame to be electrically connected to circuits of a circuit board onto which the assembly is mounted. A ground strap extends from an outer shield of the connector of the upper row to the frame bottom face, and a board lock at a lower end of the ground strap is insertable into a corresponding hole of the circuit board to establish a ground connection with a ground circuit of the board. A grounding clip is mounted in the frame in front of the several connectors of the lower row and is insertable into a corresponding hole of the circuit board to establish a ground connection with a ground circuit of the circuit board and the vertical conductive panel adjacent the mating face of the assembly, with the mating faces of the connectors exposed through cutouts of the panel. In particular, the connectors of the lower row are disclosed to be audio jacks.
In U.S. Pat. No. Des. 377,336 and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,008 is disclosed an assembly of a first connector mounted at the top of a bracket, and a second connector mounted along the bottom of the bracket, with the bracket mountable onto a circuit board. The second connector provides along a common mating face, a plurality of positions for mating with additional connectors. The mating faces of the connectors are located along a vertical face of the bracket orthogonal to the board mounting face of the bracket.
It is desired to provide a stacked assembly of a connector in an upper row and a plurality of mating sites in a lower row, without a separate frame member or bracket.